


Price

by heartforhire



Category: The Legend of Zelda & Related Fandoms, The Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks
Genre: Author Has Sick Sense Of Humor, Byrne And OC Have A Really Abrasive Relationship, Everyone Is Weird As Shit, F/M, OC Is Evil, Really What Else Did You Expect From Me Though?, Swearing, Too Many Trains, so many trains
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-06-09
Updated: 2017-06-09
Packaged: 2018-11-11 12:59:16
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,369
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11148915
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/heartforhire/pseuds/heartforhire
Summary: Oh, so this is the Fourth Wall?It's not what I was expecting.But for those of you who can hear me now… well, I've got one thing to say to you.If you've got the money, I've got everything.





	Price

**Author's Note:**

> This story gets dark as fuck. Just warning you.
> 
> -Kloe

It was almost sad, seeing the rickety old train chug along the tracks to the Tower of Spirits.

The colors were full, paint weatherbeaten and chipping. The wood wasn't in much better shape, scratched and probably warped. The only thing about the train that looked maintained were the parts essential to the train; the wheels were polished so much that she could see the reflection of grass blades in the metal.

It took Ellie less than three seconds to decide she liked her train better.

The smirk on her colorless lips grew wider as she watched the boy engineer's face shift from concentration to shock and horror when he realized that the tracks in front of him were disappearing. She yawned and stretched, back arching away from the frigid metal of the wall behind her as she watched him frantically try to stop the train. He even hit the reverse in a failed attempt.

Heh. Didn't he know that doing that could hurt the passengers?

She paused. All the mirth drained from her expression as realization hit.

"Shit."

Pushing off the wall, Ellie turned so that she was facing the front of the train, where Cole was keeping the train running.

"THE ENGINEER'S AN IDIOT! ZELDA'S PROBABLY INJURED!"

The shattering of glass from behind Ellie made her quirk an eyebrow and turn around, staring at Byrne. His eyes were wide, metal claws splayed wide as if for balance. 

"When did you get here?" she asked. Byrne blinked before answering in a deadpan. 

"I was here for ten minutes, Ellie." He shook his head. "Honestly, your observational skills can be worse than humans' sometimes." 

Ellie rolled her eyes.

"A human wouldn't be able to notice that Boss's speeding towards them fast enough to take off their heads. By the way, hit the deck," she returned, dropping flat against the floor. Byrne followed suit. Just in time, too. If he had been a second later, Cole would've run into his head and knocked it clean off his shoulders.

He liked his head where it was, thank you very much.

"The vessel might be damaged?!" Cole screeched, eyes wild. One of his hats was missing, exposing the golden horn on the left side of his head. Ellie nodded seriously from her sprawled position on the floor, not making a move to get up. 

"That's why I called you."

There was a beat of silence in which Ellie looked out the window. The actual window, not the looking portal showing the Forest Realm she had been spying through.

"…you did open the Forest Realm gate when I yelled, right?"

The look on Cole's face was priceless.

-

Ellie was off the train before the face had time to creep the hell out of the three below it. Granted, that was because she had been thrown out the window and was now making her way to the front of the train so she could steer, but that didn't matter. What did was that she was clinging to the side of the train, the wind drawing tears from her eyes and whipping her clothes against her body as she made her way to the front of the train.

She managed to get there just in time. If she had been five seconds late in getting there, the wheels would've taken off Zelda's head. That wouldn't be good, seeing as they had to have her body intact to resurrect Lord Malladus. 

Yeah, she valued her life, something she wouldn't have if Lord Malladus was pissed at her.

Opening a travel-portal to the Dark Realm, Ellie hissed as she found an Armored Train of Death staring her face to face. A brilliant white force field tossed the offending piece of now scrap metal away as she ran a pulse of magic to make sure the face was still perfect. It was. Good.

She would get so much shit from Cole if he found that Malladus' Carry was even _breathed on_ , Spirits forbid if it _crashed_.

Ellie shuddered. 

She was fond of her fingers, but not to the point where she'd want to eat them as breakfast.

She had a feeling she'd taste bad, anyway.

Pulling the train onto the Anti Tracks, the black rails of smoke that ran above the Spirit Tracks still firm in this Realm, Ellie kept half her focus on maneuvering the train while the other half went to the looking-portal she just opened. Her brows shot up as she saw a human engaging Byrne.

"Idiot. He's only human," she muttered as she shook her head. Granted, she was human too, but not to the same extent. A smirk pulled at her lips as Byrne overpowered him, hitting him hard enough to wound him. 

Not enough to kill him, though. 

Her smirk pulled down into a frown as she guided the Carry through a Warp, reappearing on the Spirit Tracks. She could feel the face shift into a frown at the contact, so she pulled the Carry through another Warp to end on the Anti Tracks.

"He's an idiot, too. I told him to kill," she muttered angrily. The metal beneath her hands resonated with agreement, heating up and vibrating. Sparing the looking-portal another glance, she saw the altercation coming to a close. A flick of her wrist had a travel-portal gaping in front of the Carry, taking her directly next to her trainmates. She slowed the train to their pace, a smug smirk pulling her lips back up.

"Ellie Express, round trip to the Broken Tower. Please have your entry fee at the door."

Her smile revealed her sharp teeth, too-large-to-be-human canines jutting out prominently. They were glistening white. Ellie took pride in her appearance, and while having them slightly yellowed and chipped could add to her intimidation factor, she'd rather have them this way, one she could feel confident in. 

"Spiritsdamnit-- Ellie, give me the controls!" Cole sputtered. Her shit-eating grin only got bigger as she leaned on the controls, smugness radiating from her entire form.

"Yeah, no admission without paying the fee." Her eyes shuttered for the briefest of seconds, emotion and intelligence behind them blinking out so that they looked almost fake as she spoke her next words. "Everything happens for a reason, and that reason's money. C'mon, Boss, you know that."

Her eyes came back to life, only to close as she gave her biggest fake smile ever. Byrne sighed irritably, pulling out five Big Green Rupees from his pocket. 

"Here." Ellie's smile disappeared, replacing by a thoughtful look as she ran her eyes over the glittering green crystals. 

"That's enough for two people. Boss, you can get on too. He's paying for you," Ellie said, raising her voice for the last two sentences. As Byrne made to go past her into the train car, Ellie casually put her foot out. He paused, turning his attention to her face.

Her face was missing her smirk, eyes glimmering with something he couldn't quite read. Byrne hated when Ellie got like this. It never failed to unsettle him. The way her voice lowered into territory that was just between threatening and causal always sent shivers down his spine, even if he couldn't see her face.

It was always the precursor to something genuine.

"You're an idiot, you know that?" she said quietly. "You always were the nicer one of us."

Her smirk reappeared, but her eyes hadn't shifted from their darkness. Byrne returned her stare with one of his own, not caring about the increasingly annoyed monster hovering behind him.

"That's not good."

Her tone was biting.

A couple seconds later, it was like she was an entirely different person. Her body language was light, causal, open. Her smirk was light-hearted.

For all the world, she looked like she was just ribbing him. He would've believed it if he didn't know better, too.

"You look like a real dumbass just standing there. C'mon, Boss's waiting for you to move your fatass out of the way."

If her smile was a little more brittle for the rest of the day, no one commented.

If he was just a little bit tense every time he saw her, well, no one commented on that either.


End file.
